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Monday, February 06, 2012

I've always been intrigued by Anglo-Saxon poetry - and too lazy to make a true study of it. I haven't had the time, etc, - the usual excuses. So I'm pleased to present this talk for us to share. And possibly The Word Exchange when the royalties cheque comes in - ha ha.

This event brought together editors, poets, and translators Robert Hass, Greg Delanty, and Michael Matto to talk about some of the great richness of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Delanty and Matto are coeditors of The Word Exchange, which features over 70 contemporary poets (Hass included among them) translating a wealth of Anglo-Saxon verse into modern English. In this audio you can hear Hass, Delanty, and Matto read in both English and Anglo-Saxon while discussing these poems.

Delanty started the event by talking about the process of translating from Old English into modern English. Part of the question with translating from a historic language like Old English is the degree to which a translator should stay true to the original, versus trying to find equivalents in modern English. Another difficulty, which Hass and Matto discussed later on, was balancing between the sound of the Old English and the meaning of the translation.